$1.2M allocated for Cumberland rail siding project

08/10/2016

CUMBERLAND — The region’s transportation planning agency announced more than $1 million in funding Aug. 5 for a new rail siding north of Portland that could help boost ridership on the Amtrak Downeaster.

The $1.15 million for the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority project in Cumberland and Falmouth is part of $9.52 million in total capital investments announced Aug. 5 by the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System.

The $9.3 million project is expected to start next year, but no specific date has been established, according to Ben Lake, an energy and transit program analyst with the Greater Portland Council of Governments.

The siding will be a short piece of track to allow passenger and freight trains on the same stretch of rail to pass each other.

The siding would run 4 miles, from Field Road in Falmouth to Greely Road in Cumberland, Lake said. Although it is called the Royal Junction Siding project, a nod to the now-defunct Royal Junction station in Yarmouth, the siding will not run into Yarmouth. Read the Full Article